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"Dying from binge drinking is not likely. Arrests for drinking related crimes is much more likely, and can cause a lot of problems later in life. DWIs, disorderly conduct, that type of thing.

How about rape? How about all the brain cells dying off right nicely? Don't some people become alcoholics? And how about how often binge drinking happens divided by the amount of times things go badly. That's underreported."

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Alec Forde, Minneapolis, recent college graduate

"By the time I was in college I felt as though I had nothing to prove to anyone or to myself with regards to my drinking abilities. I had already learned my limits, and could easily distinguish between those who had and had not.

Is it not conceivable that just maybe if our society was more open to learning the limits and effects of alcohol with, say, family members in supervised settings, excessive intoxication might not be as unfamiliar, unexpected, or even appealing?"

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Bridgett Erickson, Minneapolis, mother

"Although alcohol is the most unhealthy drink to binge on -- what about overdrinking as a whole? Water bottles in every college class room. Starbucks coffee every morning. Coke machines. Really, the whole 'drink' industry should be questioned in general.

Maybe if people weren't so used to guzzling all day long, they'd actually take a bit more time to consume the beers with friends at night."

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Corrinne Bedecarre, St. Paul, education

"Do we have an ethical obligation to teach our children how to drink? We teach them to drive even though they have spent a lifetime around cars, because driving is so different than being driven.

But we respond to their entirely predictable and inevitable contact with alcohol by prohibiting and criminalizing. We hope they take up just our best practices only when they are 21. It is a ridiculous and deadly response.

Why do we leave their drinking education to other adolescents in a car? Our alcohol policies don't work well. At 18 you can go to war, get married, be executed, be tried as an adult, buy a house, but you can't handle a six-pack."

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Peg O'Connor and Janet DeMars, St. Peter, Gustavus Adolphus College

"There is a polarization of drinking behaviors -- more are choosing to abstain, and those who drink to excess are doing it more so."

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George (Sonny) Haas, Minneapolis, behavior management specialist

"Binge drinking is not generally about being an addict or alcoholic. It is a pattern of dysfunctional ingestion of alcoholic beverages with one intention only, and that is to alter the consciousness as quickly and completely as possible -- and it works.

I think the question to avoid at all costs is the 'why' question. The why is because they can. Maybe we need to be asking, what is it they think they are going to get from choosing to binge drink?

I think that more than questions -- or at least along with questions -- we need to create an arena for discussion that questions the behavior of binge drinking and reinforces a more responsible drinking behavior."

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Sharon Gritzmacher, Bemidji, college professor

"As a professor who teaches a first year experience seminar, I regularly address issues of civility, including alcohol use, with my first semester freshmen.

Among those students who remain my academic advisees, I am able to develop strong enough relationships to continue conversations about unhealthy behaviors. Does this make a difference? I don't often know.

One of the things that I can guess is that when I have students whose attendance is erratic, they most likely are engaged in one of several types of bingeing. Drinking is the one we think about most, but there is gambling, and there is also bingeing on video games."

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Keith Grauman, St. Paul, newspaper reporter

"As a 2006 graduate of the University of Minnesota, Duluth, I have seen it all when it comes to binge drinking and done a fair amount of it myself.

I don't think most kids on college campuses really think of the way they drink as being binge drinking. Getting wasted isn't something that's looked down upon. In fact, it's the main focus of many college students' weekends."

"We need to look at how we are educating kids/parents and handling the issue of drinking BEFORE kids get to college. 'Just say no' doesn't work."

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Mary Manke, St. Paul, associate dean at UW-River Falls

"Every issue of the newspaper in River Falls lists several students by name, along with the large fines they have to pay [for alcohol offenses]. If this is a deterrent for some, there seem to be many who are not deterred."

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Deah Szymanski, Shoreview, instructor

"I think you need to learn HOW to drink, which takes practice. And you shouldn't be practicing with only peers or people with no experience in the matter.

I think in the process of learning about alcohol, you learn about moderation and how to feel your body and what its limits are. You can't feel your body's limits at the point it's anesthetized.

When people haven't practiced drinking in moderation (some more than others) they haven't learned the subtle cues the body gives you to tell you how drunk you are getting."

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Aruna Rao, Minneapolis, engineer

"Binge drinking could mean missing class and/or work if someone feels sick, or just doesn't wake up until a later hour. The night of drinking could mean excessive vomiting and disruptive behavior in public places, causing problems for others.

Additionally, drinking in the presence of cameras may mean a lack of privacy for people with the advancement of Facebook and MySpace, because photos and videos are almost immediately posted online for others to see. Many people disregard that element until it surfaces elsewhere."

"The unreported statistics are the number of recovery high schools in the country (12 of which are in Minnesota) and the number of collegiate recovery communities there are.

There are students in recovery at young ages who work excellent 12-step programs. There are numerous AA or NA meetings in the Twin Cities for young people. It doesn't all have to be about binge drinking and death. There are many who have chosen abstinence and a new life."

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June Kallestad, Cloquet, public relations manager

"The problem as I see it, is the mixed messages teens get about drinking. It is an acceptable adult activity, and they want to 'try on' adulthood.

I wonder if there is a study that shows that children who are allowed to join adults in the occasional (small) glass of wine or sips of their beer grow up with more understanding of the affects of alcohol.

In Europe, youth drink at much younger ages than here, and do they have binge drinking problems on our scale? Do we put alcohol on a pedestal of adulthood that just taunts youth into wanting it, without any lessons on how to drink responsibly?"

About the author

Anna Weggel is a Public Insight Analyst, dividing her time between producing content featuring sources found in the Public Insight Network and training/mentoring APM's partner newsrooms across the country.